Welcome, Baby Oden!

Oden Thomas Lochhead

Born February 20, 2012

5 lbs. 11 oz.

21 inches

(And look at that strawberry-blonde hair!)

Gracie and Josh have a new baby cousin!  To all of our delight, and as an answer to prayer, Oden was born on Monday, healthy at 34 weeks!

Here's Annie with her two chocolate milkshakes after FOUR DAYS of labor--to say that she did an amazing job would most definitely be understating it!  And Drew, showing off little Oden in the ICU.  This little one is a miracle baby!  We are so excited!  

Welcome to the world, Oden Thomas!  You are precious and loved from the very start!  (Gracie prayed tonight that you would grow brave and smart and that you'd learn how to play with your teether).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grilled cheese hearts.  Valentine's from family and preschool friends.  Fresh layer of snow on the ground during nap time.  Happy Valentine's Day!

The Games We Play...

The Buz and Woody plate

and the Toy Story utensils.

From Josh's standpoint,

these are the ONLY items

worthwhile in the dishwasher.

His job: 

Whenever he's near the dishwasher, he must open it

and rescue the plate and utensils

before they are locked in the dishwasher forever.

My role:

Who cares about loading the sharp knives last,

just make sure the beloved plate and utensils

stay up on the cupboard until the very last, 

"Quick! Start the dishwasher!" moment.

But more times than not, I forget,

or think he's safely away from the machine,

and load them.

On Road Runner legs, he scrambles in and dives for the bottom rack.

I sigh...and make a mental note to search the house for the rescued items

before I start the dishwasher for the night.

Oh, the games we play.

A Boy and His Horse

One morning last week, Grace and I went into Josh's room to get him up and were completely surprised to see that Josh had company in his crib:  his stick horse!

We aren't exactly sure how he hoisted this guy in with him--but the night before I'd leaned the horse up between the crib and the changing table.  Josh found a way!

And, BOY, was he proud of himself!  :)

Fine Motor Skills Workshop...AKA "Coloring"

Josh thinks he's ambidextrous.  He's quite decisive when choosing what to color:  It has to be Toy Story and it has to be IN the coloring book.  No page tear-outs, thank you very much.

Gracie loves to color...when they're playing preschool and she's the teacher.  Otherwise, fine motor skill activities aren't her preference.  :)  She's working on writing her name, and her teacher mother is trying not to push her too hard--these things will just click someday, right?

Notice the torn-out page that Josh is not having anything to do with...

Gracie loves her pencil box from Grandma Colleen--and these cool colored pencils that you twist to sharpen!  This girl still has those kissable cheeks!  Don't worry, we make sure she has a plethora of kisses planted on them each day!

Patricia and the Girls

Here are some of our newest friends!  Steve and Patricia have two girls about our kids' ages:  Emma and Ashlan.  In fact, we'd seen each other at church and story times at the library for the last couple of years, but when Emma and Gracie started going to preschool together, Patricia and I started hanging out (with Ashlan and Josh) during preschool.  We've had many a park/mall/store playdate this year!  We took Patricia and the girls to The Little Garden Cafe for Patricia's birthday last week.  The sun was shining and I couldn't resist getting a couple pics...

Birthday Buddies

We have several people in our families who have birthdays close to each other.  G'ma Dorothy and Kevin share a birthday week:  January 26 and Feb 1.  Here are the official party pics!

 Grandma got sweaters and chocolate and books and a grandchild "brag book" for her purse...

...Kevin may or may not have been the SECOND recipient of a classic gift given originally by Drew Lochhead.  Regifting ROCKS.  (Okay, he also got some Carhartts, a shirt, and other decent and appropriate gifts).

Other highlights of the evening:
-The cousins are old enough (and loud enough!) to play downstairs together!  Janie, Gracie, Anthony, and Josh were thrilled to watch Lion King together.  When we went downstairs, we found children crawling on the ground, pretending to be Simba, Nala, or hyenas.  Such fun times!
-Albertsons makes DELECTABLE cakes!  Who knew?
-I especially enjoyed the evening, knowing that this was a Sunday evening, and I didn't have to go to work the next day!  Yes, it's half way through the year and I've switched from M-W work days to Th-F!  M-W's at home are dreamy!

Alea is SEVEN!!!

Our good friend, Alea, turned SEVEN last week!  This year she got to have a friend birthday party at her house.  Heidi said that when she was listing the friends that she wanted to invite, Gracie was high on the list.  Heidi asked her if she thought Gracie could do the party activities that her first grade friends could do, "because remember, Gracie is three."  Alea looked at her mom and cried, "MOM!  We're talking about GRACIE, here!  She has to come!"  She and Kalei are so sweet to our girl!  Gracie was thrilled to join the house filled with TWELVE 1st graders!

And Alea was so sweet to let her be right next to her for most moments of the party--they even shared a chair at the party table.  :)

Alea had an Under the Sea party...the kids drew an underwater mural along the kitchen walls, they had a scavenger hunt that led to a dolphin piñata, and they feasted on goldfish and dolphin cake!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Alea!  We love you and can't wait to be part of your SEVENTH year!

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Granny's birthday was on January 26.  The kids and I made cupcakes and took flowers over to see her.  Gracie insisted on star sprinkles for Granny's cupcakes and the little balloon to go with the flowers.  :)

Granny, of course, is the best person to take gifts to...she always shares!  After playing with Perri's Barbies from the basement and the game with colored ping-pong balls, we settled at the counter for birthday cupcakes.

Josh taught Pappy the name of all the Toy Story characters.

We love you, Granny!  What a fun day to shower YOU with love!

It's February!

This means the red and pink decor comes out...  This year Gracie helped me unload the tub of decorations.  She kept taking things from the kitchen table into the living room.  When I came in to see where she put them, she showed me her nice display.  :)

February also means wrestling in RED.  :)  From blog pictures you'd probably think that all we do is wrestle.  This thought is fairly accurate.  :)